It was a challenging day for our Gulf Giants, as we faced another loss in the DP World ILT20. The Desert Vipers were outstanding and deserved their victory. While we are disappointed with our performance, we believe it is not the end for us in this tournament, and we are confident about making a comeback in the upcoming matches.

When we were put into bat, the start wasn't ideal with early dismissals of James Vince and Jamie Smith. However, Chris Lynn continued his good form, scoring 31 before getting out. The middle overs slowed us down, but Shimrom Hetmyer’s excellent knock of 40 off just 23 balls helped us reach a challenging total of 160 in 20 overs. Wanindu Hasaranga shone with the ball, taking 2 wickets for just 15 runs, and Mohammad Amir was another standout with 3 wickets for the Vipers.

Defending our total, we had a good start by dismissing Rohan Mustafa early, courtesy of a great catch from Carlos Brathwaite. Alex Hales played a fine innings of 44 in 30 balls, but Zuhaib Zubair brought us back into the game by dismissing Hales and Hasaranga quickly. Azam Khan then took charge, scoring a quick 50 off just 18 balls, and with Colin Munro's support, they comfortably secured the win. For us, Zuhaib Zubair took 2 wickets, and Blessing Muzarabani claimed one towards the end but it was too late.

While it was a tough day, we are determined to bounce back in our next game on Sunday against Sharjah Warriors, whom we defeated in our first encounter. We are looking for inspiration to turn things around in the tournament.